Where Rita brought me was a long, long hallway extending into the innermost part of the base.
So long I doubted you could space lighting at regular intervals, she guided me holding a torch.
The temperature was gradually dropping, chilling my skin that had been flushed with heat. The atmosphere changed too, taking on an eerie feel.
What we arrived at was a large door.
“Um…Ms. Rita, what’s this?”
“You’ll see if you open it.”
Prompted, I pushed the door open.
Beyond wasn’t a room but a large hole.
Not a natural cave. A large man-made tunnel like a coal mine.
“The experiment site! The key to this base is actually here!”
Saying that, Rita slipped past me tap tap and went inside.
I followed her.
Old, patchwork scaffolding was built. Below it was piled a large amount of rubble, and sandbags for carrying dirt out.
“Ah! Laura! You’re here good!”
Rita called into the depths of the hole.
In response, a girl peeked out from the direction the voice echoed.
“Hello. I’m Laura, the teacher’s assistant. Pleased to meet you.”
She was a cute, small girl.
What especially stood out were her ears.
Beast ears.
A demihuman?
“As she introduced herself, this is Laura, my reliable assistant.”
Assistant? This girl?
While thinking I shouldn’t judge by appearances, she honestly looked too young to work in such a precarious collapsing pit.
Knowing or not knowing my confusion, Rita walked the scaffolding nonchalantly and led me all the way to the back.
“See, Mr. Strauss? That’s the deepest dug part of this great pit. The final goal of digging this large hole.”
I looked where she pointed.
Certainly, even in this army-traversable great hole, that part seemed especially deeply excavated.
“The purpose of this large hole is, similar to the previous experiment of the ‘void’, to test the framework of the labyrinth. Even before your group ‘[Dragon’s Wings]’ opened the 98th floor, we have been challenging the labyrinth through excavation.”
When I came here, I began to feel strange.
Well, to begin with, everything seems strange, but what was strange was Rita’s tone of voice.
Her casual tone began taking on warmth and passion. But the scenery around here looked too much like a coal mine tunnel, and it felt like what I had been feeling until just now had been placed behind a screen somewhere.
It wasn’t just a feeling. I realized.
What brought me this realization was the existence of the girl – Laura.
Her eyes gazing at Rita seemed too inorganic.
“Alright Laura, please help out.”
At the instruction, the girl stomped on the ground lightly and stood in front of the wall.
A low growl could be heard.
In the next moment, the girl’s back bulged strangely.
“Grr, ah!”
Her transformed shape hammered fiercely at the wall with her large claws.
“Listen well. The bedrock strength just before reaching the ‘barrier’ is on another level. An ordinary warrior cannot break it.”
A ‘barrier’?
The wall was being hammered gun, gun.
Something cracked and scattered.
It took a little to realize it was fragments of the girl’s abnormal claws. And then to realize blood was splattering.
“Ah! Ah!”
Yet the abnormality did not stop hammering the wall.
I looked at Rita. Her complexion did not change one bit. As if this was only natural.
Wait a minute.
Isn’t this strange after all?
“you see it. Well done Laura. Stop now.”
The abnormality reverted to the form of a girl and quietly retreated to the side, hiding her blood-dripping hands.
“Um, stopping the bleeding…”
“It’s alright. Laura is trained. More importantly, look here.”
Rita grabbed my head and turned it toward the broken wall.
Beyond the broken wall, a faint bluish light was visible.
The light was forming a membrane, with figures and perhaps characters flashing and disappearing within it. While watching, the surrounding rocks seemed to gather like healing an injury to cover and repair the wall.
“This is what it’s like deep inside the labyrinth walls! It’s similar to the ‘void’ right!? But it’s probably better to carefully observe from the wall rather than above ground.”
“Well, that may be so…”
Waving my hands, I ran over to the girl.
“Your…hands okay?”
The girl made a puzzled face.
“Huh?”
“Laura is fine! Right, Laura?”
Called, the girl nodded her neck up and down briskly.
“More than that, I want to hear your insights! As we discovered earlier, we have strayed from the truth of the labyrinth by underestimating conferral techniques! From now on, analyzing conferral techniques is essential! But there are few conferral technicians, and ones with brains like yours are one in ten thousand!”
Setting that voice aside for now, I quickly treated the girl’s bleeding with a piece of cloth I had.
Then I turned again to face Rita properly.
She was looking at me dissatisfied.
“I don’t really get it,” I said. “I thought you were recruiting me, Rita Hinckes. But I’m starting to feel something strange here.”
“What don’t you understand, Vim? I want you to challenge the mysteries of the labyrinth with us. Of course, we also acknowledge your combat skills, but more than that, what was revealed to me today. You have the same sense of adventure– “
Recruitment isn’t just joining a circle.
The situation seems to be getting more convoluted.
“Excuse me for a moment, Rita.”
“Hm? What is it. I’ll answer any questions.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
She acted as if there was nothing strange at all. She didn’t seem to care at all about my confusion, making me feel even more uneasy.
What is this person really thinking?
Doubting the situation itself, this organization led by Rita Hinckes also seemed strangely dubious.
I had lost my initial fervor.
“Um, digging this deep of a hole must be quite difficult, I imagine. But I haven’t seen anyone like an excavation crew…”
“Hm? Oh…that’s because it’s already finished digging! The labyrinth walls have self-repair functions after all.”
“If the walls can self-repair, it doesn’t make sense that there’s no one here who was working before.”
” …… Oh, you know what I mean.
If it’s repairable, it’s strange that there’s no one here who was working on it earlier.
There’s not just that. The personnel composition I’ve seen since coming here seems imbalanced. While these research members are undoubtedly conducting profoundly innovative research that would reasonably require massive human resources, there’s no sign of such large numbers of people.
“Well…I guess you have a point there.”
My suspicions had turned to half-conviction.
Sorry to be rude, but is something being hidden from me?”
I looked directly into Rita’s eyes.
She deliberately placed her hand on her chin and used the force to shake her head left and right, then exaggeratedly lifted the corner of her mouth.
A chill ran down my spine.
“Ah…looks like I failed. I tried to provide the best entertainment even though things progressed a bit faster than I thought, so it ended up a bit rough.”
And Rita seemed to give up, saying:
“Welcome, Mr Vim.”
The rear door was forcefully opened by someone.
“Young Vim! Get away from that one!”
The voice was deeply familiar – full of dignity and force. Along with the shining silver hair and figure towering over even men, it was Camilla.
While I was stunned, familiar faces started entering through the open doors one after another.
Hans, Abel, Heidemarie – everyone was there.
“Young Vim! We’ve come to rescue you! This is the hideout of the ‘[Twilight Owls]’!”
“[Twilight Owls]!?”
Hearing those words, I turned to Rita.
She just lifted her shoulders as if saying ‘ah well’ and shrugged, with her eyes as innocent as ever.
“Let me reintroduce myself properly. I am Rita Hinckes, leader of the ‘[Twilight Owls]’!”
She declared it casually as ever.
◇
Young Vim still seems unsure of the situation.
“As rotten a scoundrel as ever, Rita.”
“Maybe I should’ve called myself an adventurous comrade?”
“A grave’s mistake. Now release the boy.”
“Come on, I never thought this place would be found…”
“Ha! An intellectual pretender like you wouldn’t understand!”
Observing the situation while keeping them in check lightly.
If looked at lightly, it seems there are only Rita and…that seems to be a demi-human child.
But it’s unwise to let one’s guard down against her. It’s better not to face her with such half-hearted thoughts.
“Listen well, Young Vim! You’ve been deceived! The Adventurers Guild exploration team had been corrupted by the ‘[Twilight Owls]'”
“Now just a minute-“
“Be silent.”
I aimed the blade of my great chop at Rita’s neck.
“Look look Laura! Protect me! What else can you do?”
“Yes, teacher.”
Regrettably, the innocent girl hesitantly stood between me and Rita.
It’s despicable that this one knows I cannot cut down this girl child.
“Er, Camilla, while I will hand over Strauss normally since this failed already, can I ask how you tracked this place? Even if a beacon was planted on him, I don’t see how the stratum could be pinpointed specifically.”
“Foolish! For such thoughts to come so readily shows your lack of lawful spirit, you scoundrel!”
“Eeh…wasn’t that a reasonable deduction?”
“Heidemarie is here! An intellectual pretender like you knows nothing!”
From the corner of my eye, I confirmed Young Vim. He did not seem particularly wary of Rita, so it seems a considerable exchange must have occurred. No doubt the situation was urgent.
Her skills of brainwashing are something I’ve been boiled in many times over. If not for Heidemarie, I shudder to think what might have become of us.
“I want to teach you this! This is what a true wise one is like! Right reason defeats wrongdoing!”
Even so, Heidemarie’s work this time was no small feat. As the one who gave permission and sent them off on this so-called investigation, if she hadn’t rushed in with a changed complexion, I never would have realized that the “[Twilight Owls]” were targeting Young Vim.
From there on, it can only be described as magnificent. Deducing logic like climbing a ladder from sparse information, as if she knew the answer from the beginning.
Truly a wise one, worthy of the seventy-fourth Sage.
I’m really glad she’s an ally.
“Hee, heeheeh! That’s right, isn’t it!? I can’t have the seventy-fourth Sage looked down on, Rita!”
“Well, I’m not convinced, but there’s nothing to be done about the Sage Lady’s skills. Go on, Mr Strauss.”
As Rita said that, Young Vim promptly ran over here.
As instructed beforehand, the shield battalion led by Abel immediately formed a defensive formation around him.
Surrounded like that, he seemed to finally realize he had been rescued.
“Purpose achieved. Everyone, return.”
I don’t want to stay in such a place for even a second. I shouldn’t be here.
Ignoring everything about this despicable hideout, proceeding back the way we came.
Young Vim had only been missing for about two days.
We made it in time. He readily returned under our control.
“See ya, Mr Strauss! Take care with the ‘[Twilight Owls]!”
Turning toward Rita’s unusually cheerful voice did cause a bit of unease.
*
Returning to the manor, I ended up being worried about excessively.
Everyone seemed to think I had been cleverly recruited by the ‘[Twilight Owls]’, on the verge of being kidnapped and brainwashed.
But my own experience felt completely different. There was no suffering, if anything I was looking forward to joining that group.
Told it was brainwashing, I suppose that’s what it must have been.
Of course, the ugliness of the ‘[Twilight Owls]’ I was told about is undoubtedly real. Camilla strongly criticized and I felt the evil in how Rita treated that demi-human girl.
However, something Camilla emphasized in the office stuck with me.
“Listen well, Young Vim. You are the ace of ‘[Night Dragonfly]’ and possess the qualities befitting that.”
“Well, of course, that…”
“We need you. This is an absolute fact, and a sign of our trust in you.”
“Thank you very much.”
“So I ask you, prove you have the right qualities.”
Nothing should be strange after all.
I truly want the life of a ‘[Night Dragonfly]’, and the fact they need me has not changed. If anything, the time spent with the exploration team – I mean the ‘[Twilight Owls’] gathering – would mean more time for rest and training.
Yes.
I’ll do my best again starting tomorrow.
It was just a small accident hopefully.
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Camilla is misinterpreting Heidemarie’s stalker tendency very positively. Rika’s and Twilight Owl’s madness came out nicely too.